Electrical circuitry is receiving increasingly wide acceptance for performing a number of progressively sophisticated functions. Generally, the electrical circuitry is disposed on an integrated circuit chip. As the micron size indicating the thickness of the leads in the integrated circuitry chip has decreased, the amount of circuitry capable of being disposed on the chip has progressively increased.
The operation of such integrated circuit chips can be impaired by subjecting such chips to microwave energy. This microwave energy generates a flow of electrons which impinge upon the integrated circuit chips and impair the operation of these chips.
To counteract the damaging effects of microwave energy, integrated circuit chips have been disposed in enclosures, preferably metallic, which are impenetrable to microwave energy. The enclosures have been constructed in a manner to produce coupling losses of several tens of decibels even at openings in such enclosures. Thus, even though it is now possible to generate very powerful microwave energy, it is also possible to shield effectively against such microwave energy.
Attempts have been made to use the microwave energy in ways to penetrate the enclosures for the integrated circuits and impair the operation of the circuitry on such chips. Until now, such effort has not been generally successful. This invention provides a system for and method of converting the microwave energy to another energy form which will penetrate the enclosures and impair the operation of the integrated circuitry in such enclosures.